Tease those TIFF taste buds with a Shinan Govani Q&A

Shinan Govani at the launch party for his book, Boldface Names (Photo by Jen McNeely)

Local gossip king Shinan Govani landed the cover of the premiere issue of In Toronto magazine this week (it’s like Xtra or Fab for the Yorkville crowd), and while we already know too much about the party pundit, the story revealed some tidbits that might be useful for amateur celebrity spotters. The highlights of the 1,400-word Q&A:

Govani’s picks for celebrity sightings:Drew Barrymore was spotted at Sweaty Betty’s twice when she was in town for TIFF, Robin Williams once visited the Dora Keogh, Daniel Craig and Megan Fox have dined at Avenue Road’s L’Unità, and Toufik Sarwa’s Cinq 01 on College is the go-to place for local celebs.

His answer to the tired “will Toronto ever be like New York” question:
Up the population by one million. “Toronto is plenty engaging and glam—what we’re still lacking is scale,” he tells the magazine, adding that a Toronto party may have 10 “cool” people, but a New York or London party may have 100 “cool” people.

…Not that Toronto’s D-list status is a bad thing:
Govani is asked why so many celebrities have their meltdowns in Canadian cities (we’re pretty sure L.A. still holds the title for most train-wrecky city. See: Lohan, L.). He answers, “Partly, I would imagine, it’s because celebs feel a psychological fence around them being in these hinterlands.” Famous people apparently think Canada is so far north and isolated that they can get away with bar brawls. Oh wait…

He had a speech impediment that prevented him from saying his name:
Govani says that he couldn’t pronounce the “sh” sound and had to work with a therapist to overcome it. “I couldn’t say my own name! Now I make a living off other people’s names.”

Covering TIFF sucks:
It’s something we already know first-hand, but unlike us (who divvied up the work among a team of reporters), last year, Govani had to attend 40 parties, write his columns, do his TV and radio bits and promote Boldface Names at the same time. It’s not all champagne and blini. It’s writing columns and voice-overs while downing champagne and scarfing down free blini.